


One Moment out of a Lifetime

by BlackWingBecci



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Multi, Valentine's Day Fluff, with a little angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 14:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1608839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackWingBecci/pseuds/BlackWingBecci
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Courfeyrac wants Valentine’s Day to be perfect, but sometimes perfect isn’t what it first seems to be when your relationship isn’t ‘usual’.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Moment out of a Lifetime

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my Fic Giveaway on tumblr, for Lole alittlehumantouch.

Courfeyrac hums along to the music playing from his IPod speakers while he shuffles around the kitchen to the rhythm. Every counter in the room is covered by ingredients or pots and pans and every twist and turn Courfeyrac makes as he dances threatens to knock some of them flying. And yet he keeps on dancing. Courf’ has always found it hard to keep still while he cooks, and he always cooks better when he lets himself dance. And the meal he’s making now is so important that he’s got his music cranked right up and he’s letting his body move as much as it wants.

He’s making a full three course meal – mushroom soup, chicken and leek pie and chocolate cake – for himself, Marius and Cosette for their first Valentine’s Day. Courfeyrac had taken the day off work so he had enough time to make sure their night will be perfect. He had gone shopping a few days previously to get the best ingredients for the meal. He had cleaned the living room of their flat until it was spotless in the morning and is planning on cleaning both bedrooms while the food is in the oven. It isn’t that he’s expecting the night to end in a bedroom, but he knows there’s a chance it might. So he’s going to clean the bedrooms. Because tonight has to be perfect.

The pressure he’s under he put on himself. Courfeyrac is fully aware of that. But he took the task upon himself, so he will never forgive himself if he fucks up. Even if Marius and Cosette will be fine with anything. Courfeyrac wants it to be perfect, so he is going to make it perfect.

Unfortunately, it would not be perfect if he allows Marius and Cosette to help. God, he loves them both. But they are both completely hopeless sometimes. The last time Marius had tried to cook a meal, the poor guy had been distracted by a political radio show and it was only Courfeyrac returning home from work that had prevented the destruction of their kitchen. And the time Cosette had been distracted playing with a kitten on her way home from shopping one day and had managed to get stuck halfway up a tree always brings a fond smile to Courf’s face. It had taken both Marius and Courfeyrac to talk her down because of her fear of heights and they had somehow ended up adopting the kitten as well.

Whiskers meows at him as she enters the kitchen to investigate what he’s doing. She amuses herself with a piece of kitchen paper Courfeyrac had dropped earlier while he finishes his preparation for the food and puts it in the oven. He just remembers to fill up her food bowl before he leaves the kitchen to go tidy the bedroom and hopes the kitten isn’t too mad that she’s being fed late. She does have a bit of temper – especially concerning food.

He moves through the bedroom quickly and easily while cleaning it, which makes sense since most of the mess is his. Why bother folding up his clothes to put in the hamper like Marius and Cosette do when it’s so much easier to just throw them on the floor? Well, probably tidiness and to avoid people’s feet getting tangled up in tops or trousers as they walk through the room and falling flat on their face. But that’s only happened to Courfeyrac three times. He bundles all of his clothes into the hamper and actually puts the books and technology and everything else laying around into the correct drawers and cupboards they belong in. He’s actually rather proud of himself for that. However, when he starts clearing of the small dresser, his attention is drawn away from tidying and to the pictures of them there.

He frowns at the one of Marius and Cosette that Feuilly had insisted on taking one day when they all went to the park for a picnic. Marius and Cosette had coincidentally ended up wearing complimentarily clothes and their friends and strangers were complimenting them all day on how perfect they looked together. Feuilly had spent half an hour taking photos of the two to get the perfect shot and during that time, Courfeyrac had taken his frustration out on Frisbee Jehan had brought and accidentally broken Bossuet’s nose.

He always feels guilty and petty whenever the old frustration about Marius and Cosette rears its head. But he can’t help it. They’re all in a relationship together. He knows they all love each other equally and there are no primary partners. However, sometimes it seems like there is. Marius and Cosette just fit together so perfectly. They look perfect, they act perfect, and they are perfect. The perfect couple. And Courfeyrac sometimes feels likes he’s just the extra that gets to join in with the perfect relationship from time to time. It’s never Marius and Cosette that make him feel like that – they’re always so quick to introduce him as their partner as well and Courf’ knows they never see each other as more important than him – but it’s other people that make him feel like that. The old couples that wish Marius and Cosette happiness together for a long time, random strangers who just instantly know they’re together despite how far apart they are, their colleagues who always remember to ask about them two but always forget about Courfeyrac. Even their friends who are fully aware of the three’s relationship and support it full-heartedly sometimes can’t help but marvel at how perfectly made for each other Marius and Cosette are.

Courfeyrac knocks the frame facedown so the damn photo is hidden. He feels silly and spiteful for the action but he can’t deny the rush he gets at being able to vent his frustration some way. And the warm feeling that fills his chest when it allows him to fully see the picture behind it is totally worth it. The other photo had also been taken by Feuilly – most of their photos were since he was never without his camera – and it showed Courfeyrac, Maris and Cosette asleep on their settee together in a tangle of limbs and blankets. His frown lifts into a smile as he looks at the photo and remembers Cosette’s soft snores from that night, the way Marius had fallen over when he had gotten up in the morning because his legs were numb and how Courf’ had somehow surrounded himself with all the blankets so his partners were left with none. Yes. Courfeyrac thinks that picture is much better.

Courfeyrac then left the bedroom to check the dishes he had put in the oven, back to the light and excited mood he had been in before the encounter with the photos. Although, the frustration and uncomfortableness stayed in the back of his mind.

-x-

Courfeyrac messes up. Why? Because the world seems set on him having an awful Valentine’s Day. How? He really has no idea. One moment everything seemed to be going fine, and then the next the pie was burnt, the soup was all over the floor and he didn’t have some of the ingredients he needed to make the cake. Marius and Cosette are due home any minute and Courfeyrac stands in the middle of the mess in the kitchen completely lost.

He hears a key in the front door and he contemplates if he has chance to make across their flat and hide in the bathroom before whoever it is gets inside. He stays where he is. Marius’s voice calls through the flat but Courfeyrac doesn’t respond. He’s messed up. He doesn’t want to be found. Isn’t sure if he should hide or run away.

“Courf’?” Marius appears in the kitchen doorway and his eyes go wide as he takes in Courfeyrac and the mess around him and his face fills with worry and concern. Courf’ isn’t surprised, he has just ruined their Valentine’s Day.

“Shit, Courf, you’re hurt.” Marius moves towards him, disregarding the mess on the floor, and gently lifts his arm so he can see the burnt skin there. Courfeyrac looks at it with him, remembering how his arm had brushed the hot pot and gone bright red almost instantly, making him drop the soup all over the floor.

“I ruined dinner,” is all Courfeyrac can think to say as Marius leads him out of the kitchen and to the bathroom.

“Sit down and I’ll patch up your arm.” Courfeyrac sits on the side of the bath as instructed and Marius fumbles in a cupboard before turning triumphantly with their first aid kit. Marius is the only one that really uses it. Courfeyrac and Cosette can apply a plaster to a cut and that’s it, but Marius – as with almost everything – picked up the basics from watching Combeferre and Joly very easily.

“Thanks.” Courfeyrac tells him and tries to smile warmly, but he knows it doesn’t fill his face like it usually does. He just can’t stop thinking about how much he’s managed to mess up. If there’s one he does provide to their relationship, it’s the romance, and now he can’t even do that properly.

“I don’t think you need to go to the hospital or anything, but you should probably get ‘Ferre or Joly to have a look at it tomorrow.” Courfeyrac feels warmth fill his chest and can’t smiling slightly when his pride for Marius flares at the other’s confidence and surety.

When they had first met, Marius had no confidence in himself at all. His Grandfather had made dam sure of that. But now, Marius has pride in his talents and abilities. He isn’t afraid to share his opinions – even to Enjolras and Combeferre – and explore his interests, no matter how fleeting or strange they may be. (Courfeyrac fondly remembers the two weeks that Maris spent learning the basics of Morris dancing.) Courf’ knows Cosette is just as proud as he is of their boyfriend, and even though it was mostly the man himself, Courf’ knows their relationship did help it happen.

“What is it?” Marius’ question brings Courfeyrac back out of his thoughts and he looks up at Marius innocently.

“What’s what?”

“Don’t give me that.” Marius tells him with a teasing warning in his tone as he puts the first aid kit away. “You’ve got that dopey smile on your face, the one that many people have come to fear.”

“Do you fear it?” He asks lightly. Marius mumbles something under his breath but Courfeyrac can tell what he meant anyway with the way his cheeks flush bright red.

Courfeyrac stands and wraps his arms around Marius’ waist to pull their bodies close together. He kisses the other on the cheek, revelling in the warmth of the skin there, and whispers in his ear: “Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.”

-x-

Cosette stumbles into the house 40 minutes later, having stopped to get Chinese on the way which prolonged her usually short journey from work. She greets both boys with a kiss on their foreheads, and gives Courf’ an extra kiss where his arm is bandaged, which makes Courf’ smile and feel warmer inside. The smile stays on his face as he and Marius plate the takeaway and put a movie in while Cosette has a shower and changed into something more comfortable. The boys have to circumnavigate the mess that they hadn’t cleaned up the kitchen, but they make do. And the mess is the last thing on their minds when they finally curl up on the settee with Cosette sandwiched in between them.

Courfeyrac only loses the warm feeling and is brought back down to earth when he goes to the bedroom to grab a blanket for them to snuggle under. He grabs the duvet from their bed, but finds his eyes drawn again to the small dresser and the photos of them on it when he turns back to the door. The photo he had knocked down has now been stood back up, but rather than just returned to its original place, it has been moved to the back of the collection and the one of the three of them together now stands in its place. Cosette is the only who has been in the bedroom long enough to have done it, and Courfeyrac isn’t sure how to feel about it. On one hand, he’s really glad to be again reminded that his partners do also see him as just as important in the relationship and care about him. However, he also feels guilty. Guilty because he doesn’t want to make Cosette feel bad and he can’t stop feeling petty.

He shuffles back into the living room with the duvet, the frustration and uncomfortableness in the back of his mind growing larger. Cosette gives him a warm smile when he sits down next her while Marius puts in a movie. Courfeyrac returns the smile the best he can, but he’s sure it doesn’t light up his whole face like it was earlier in the evening. And judging by Cosette’s expression, she notices.

“This okay?” Marius asks displaying the case of the DVD he had put in. Both Courfeyrac and Cosette nod in agreement and Marius throws himself down on the couch so he’s laid across both of his partners’ laps. Courfeyrac rolls his eyes for the pretence, even when his hand finds its way into Marius hair and scratches at the other’s scalp.

They watch the film in comfortable silence, casually exchanging soft touches and light kisses like they can’t leave the others alone. And if Courfeyrac is honest, that’s completely true. All three of them have never been good at keeping their hands to themselves, so they’re all used to light touches and warm breaths brushing their skin. It’s expected and comfortable and Courfeyrac easily forgets his troubles from the day. Seeing Marius and Cosette kissing makes him forget any issues he has with how perfect they look together, he forgets about the burn on his arm when Marius’s fingers drag up and down his arm lightly and he forgets about the mess the day had been when he feels Cosette’s hair brush his neck as she kisses the top of his head.

By the time the credits are playing on the screen, there is a trail of clothes leading to the bedroom and Courfeyrac is glad he had tidied the room earlier.

-x-

Courfeyrac splashes water onto his face and examines his neck in the mirror. Its littered with little red mark, just like he knows Marius’ will be, as a result of Cosette’s wandering mouth. He smiles and turns the tap off, quickly drying his hands and face before leaving the bathroom as the cold in the room starts to get to his bare body. He heads back to the bedroom and stumbles when his foot gets entangled in the strap of Cosette’s bra. He picks it up and flings the garment at the blond head of its owner where it’s poking out from the covers. He hears her weak mumble and Marius rolls his eyes at him as he throws the bra back onto the floor.

Courfeyrac smiles at his partners, taken by how wonderful the two of them look curled in bed together. He wants to go join them, fit into the space they’ve left for him and fall asleep happy and sated, despite the fact that it might break the lovely picture the two of them make alone. However, he doesn’t go over. First he goes to the dresser where their photos are and picks up the photo of Marius and Cosette. It is a beautiful picture, showing his lovely partners off brilliantly. Courf’ does like it because he loves looking at his partners. And then he looks at the picture of the three of them that Cosette had placed in front of the one he was holding. He smiles to himself and puts the photo down beside it, not in front or behind.

Sometimes the pressure of society makes him forget, but no matter how perfect Marius and Cosette look together, he always has a place with them. Courfeyrac can enjoy seeing them looking perfect together, because they do look amazing, because it’s only one moment. One single moment out of a full life that Courfeyrac has a place in. They’ll probably be plenty more times when he doubts or forgets that place, but he’ll still have that place, and he’ll always find himself back to his partners.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr currently shinedurinsline


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